12.1. "Python, Open Source, and Camaros"This chapter concludes our look at building GUIs with Python and its standard Tkinter library, by presenting a collection of realistic GUI programs. In the preceding four chapters, we met all the basics of Tkinter programming. We toured the core set of widgetsPython classes that generate devices on a computer screen and respond to user eventsand we studied a handful of advanced GUI programming techniques. Here, our focus is on putting those widgets and techniques together to create more useful GUIs. We'll study:
As in Chapters 6 and 7, I've pulled the examples in this chapter from my own library of Python programs that I really use. For instance, the text editor and clock GUIs that we'll meet here are day-to-day workhorses on my machines. Because they are written in Python and Tkinter, they work unchanged on my Windows and Linux machines, and they should work on Macs too. Since these are pure Python scripts, their future evolution is entirely up to their usersonce you get a handle on Tkinter interfaces, changing or augmenting the behavior of such programs by editing their Python code is a snap. Although some of these examples are similar to commercially available programs (e.g., PyEdit is reminiscent of the Windows Notepad accessory), the portability and almost infinite configurability of Python scripts can be a decided advantage. 12.1.1. Examples in Other ChaptersLater in the book, we'll meet other Tkinter GUI programs that put a good face on specific application domains. For instance, the following larger GUI examples show up in later chapters also:
Most of these programs see regular action on my desktop too. Because GUI libraries are general-purpose tools, there are few domains that cannot benefit from an easy-to-use, easy-to-program, and widely portable user interface coded in Python and Tkinter. Beyond the examples in this book, you can also find higher-level GUI toolkits for Python, such as the Pmw and Tix packages mentioned in Chapter 8. Such systems build upon Tkinter to provide compound components such as notebook tabbed widgets and balloon pop-up help. In the next part of the book, we'll also explore programs that build user interfaces in web browsers, not in Tkintera very different way of approaching the user interface experience. But apart from simple web-based interfaces, Tkinter GUIs can be an indispensable feature of almost any Python program you write. The programs in this chapter underscore just how far Python and Tkinter can take you. 12.1.2. This Chapter's StrategyAs for all case-study chapters in this text, this one is largely a learn-by-example exercise; most of the programs here are listed with minimal details. Along the way, I'll point out new Tkinter features that each example introduces, but I'll also assume that you will study the listed source code and its comments for more information. Python's readability becomes a substantial advantage for programmers (and writers of books), especially once we reach the level of complexity demonstrated by programs here. All of this book's GUI examples are available in source code form in the book's examples distribution. Because I've already shown the interfaces these scripts employ, this section comprises mostly screenshots, program listings, and a few brief words describing some of the most important aspects of these programs. In other words, this is a self-study section: read the source, run the examples on your own computer, and refer to the previous chapters for further details on the code listed here. Some of these programs also are accompanied in the book examples distribution by alternative or experimental implementations not listed here; see the distribution for extra code examples. Finally, I want to remind you that all of the larger programs listed in the previous sections can be run from the PyDemos and PyGadgets launcher bar GUIs that we met at the end of Chapter 10. Although I will try hard to capture some of their behavior in screenshots here, GUIs are event-driven systems by nature, and there is nothing quite like running one live to sample the flavor of its user interactions. Because of that, the launcher bars are really a supplement to the material in this chapter. They should run on most platforms and are designed to be easy to start (see the top-level README-PP3E.txt file for hints). You should go there and start clicking things immediately if you haven't done so already.
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